I'm Here
by shadowdweller25
Summary: Gibbs said that he had no other family. But when a case comes along, Tim and the team find that he in fact did have family. His father. #11 in McGee's Keeper series. McGibbs.


**Title:** I'm Here

**Rating:** M

**Main Character/s:** Timothy McGee, Jethro Gibbs, Ziva David, Jackson Gibbs

**Summary:** Gibbs said that he had no other family. But when a case comes along, Tim and the team find that he in fact did have family. His father.

**Warnings:** Slash & Language

#11 in McGee's Keeper

* * *

**I'm Here**

"Leroy! Leroy!"

Gibbs walked out of the store to his car, one memory out of many coming to mind. He stormed out of his father's store, a healing cut on his cheekbone from the fight with Ed and Chuck. He walked down the street and saw in the window of the clothing store, straightening the dress on the manikin, Shannon. Her beautiful face showed as her red hair was held back by a scarf. She smiled at him and he smiled as he walked by.

So beautiful.

He blinked as he watched Shannon fade from his mind and saw Tim and Ziva in front of the store. Tim gestured to something in the window and Ziva shook her head with an amused smile and light in her eyes. Ever since Tim had been to Israel, it seemed that they had gotten even closer than before. He could see Tim was trying to convince her of something but Ziva wasn't budging, just looking more and more amused.

They had arrived to Stillwater, Pennsylvania only about an hour or two earlier and he knew he had a lot of questions to answer when the case was over with. Not with the team but with Tim. He had specifically told Tim, multiple times in fact, that his father was dead. Yet, shortly after arriving, and in front of LaCombe's aunt's house, they were greeted by Jack, his father.

He saw Tim look over at him and abruptly stop talking, and then he and Ziva head on over. They were on a case after all.

The sound of something hitting the car brought his attention away from his agents and to his father. Jack had set a bottle of bourbon on top of the car. "If you're dead set on going another round with Chuck Winslow, this is the least you can do. You'd be amazed what you can get done with a kind word. I'll show you." And with that, he got in the passenger seat.

Gibbs looked through his window to Jack when he heard Tim.

"Uh, Boss, we'll, uh, we'll wait here."

He looked back up to see Tim and Ziva smiling at him, Tim even going so far as to give him thumbs up. Rolling his eyes, he got into the car and after glancing at Jack one more time, he started to drive off to see the other guy he used to get into fights with.

* * *

They watched Jethro start to drive off. "I'll call Abby," Ziva said.

Without missing a beat, Tim replied, "I'll call Tony," and at that they both turned and raced each other to the door. He laughed when Ziva pushed him from behind to get him to go faster and he was almost tempted to see what she would do if he tried to block the door. But he figured his hand being broken or his arm twisted, he just continued on.

It didn't take long for him to turn on the webcam and get connected to Abby. Once he saw Abby, he turned to Ziva. "Hey, I got em'."

"Gibbs has a father!"

Tony appeared in the screen next to Abby and like Tim and Ziva, together demanded, "Tell me everything!"

"His name is Jackson," Tim said. "He's a good talker. He may have winked at me." And hadn't thought sent his nerves on edge. What the hell did the wink mean?

"Gibbs is very different around him."

And true to Abby style, set off question after question. "Different how? Different bad, different good?"

"He's like a teenager, sort of."

Tim tilted his head when he saw that Tony still had his cell phone to his ear when there was no one on the other end. But ignored it and put it under the excitement of learning that Jethro had a father.

"Okay, I'm coming. I'm going. I'm leaving."

"Me too."

"Not unless you can tell us how they thought Ethan LaCombe was alive."

Abby came back on screen with her head tilted. "They thought he was dead."

Yeah. And hadn't that been a surprise they got when Tim and Jethro had been informing Janet LaCombe that her nephew was in the hospital after an attack.

"Wait, I have that." Tony took something out of his pocket and showed it to Abby. "Video link." After Abby typed it in and it showed up, it coming through to Tim and Ziva, Tony confirmed. "Yeah. They made it about a month before the squad came home."

"This is Iraq?"

"Yeah."

"I'm impressed with your internet savvy Tony. How'd you find it?"

Tony gave a self impressed smile. "Google."

"Not so impressive. Gibbs could have done that," he said to Ziva who smiled.

After talking to Tony and Abby a bit more, he disconnected the webcam and got to work on the video. He sat at the table in the general store and though he was working, he found his mind wandering a bit. He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was not only in Jethro's home town, but in Jethro's father's store. Last he was told, Jethro's father was dead.

And something about the man mad Tim feel strange. Well, not so much strange but nervous; especially after that wink from earlier. What if Jack found out? What if Tim did something that clued him in? What if Jack didn't like him? Why did Jethro say his father was dead when he wasn't? Why didn't he tell Tim?

"Tim."

Blinking, he looked over at Ziva who looked down at him with a little worry. "Huh?"

"You have been staring at the screen for some time."

"Oh," he blushed and rubbed his face as if he could wipe away the questions.

"Quarter for your thoughts."

"Penny." He looked at Ziva and instantly knew she deliberately messed up the idiom so he could focus a bit. Giving a small smile, he answered, "Just…wondering a few things."

Ziva nodded and placed something on the table. Food. So not only had he been spaced out for a while, but long enough for her to leave, get dinner, and come back. And when he looked out the window he could tell the sun was starting to set.

"About Jack."

"Yeah. Thanks by the way."

"You are welcome. Do you want to tell me? It will help clear your mind."

He opened the cover on the food to distract himself. "Where'd you get this?"

"There was a restaurant a few doors down. Now, answer the question."

Tim shrugged. "Wondering how Jethro could tell me multiple times that Jack was dead whenever I asked about his mom and dad."

"What did he say about his mom?"

Remembering the multiple times Jethro could get lost in telling him a story about his mother brought a small smile to Tim's lips. Which should have tipped him off a bit. His mother passed away and he could tell Tim any story that came to mind. When asked about Jack, he closed off and just said, "Dead."

"Loved her," he answered after taking a bite of his food.

"What was she like?"

"Loving, easy to smile and offer a hug." He chuckled, "She one time found Jethro in the barn with a fellow classmate one time and was cool with it. Well, not the fact that she caught them really close to…" he blushed at Ziva's Cheshire cat like smile, "you know, having sex, but was cool about Jethro being interested in guys."

"Sounds like a sweet mother. Like Jack."

Tim shrugged. "I know as much about Jack as you do."

"So are you going to ask Gibbs?"

"When the case is over." Not only were they working but he could already tell that this case was getting to him a bit. And they had only been in Stillwater for a few hours. He didn't want to add on to the stress.

They finished their dinner shortly after and Tim really got to work. It wasn't long that Jethro and Jack came back. Arguing.

"Everybody's always lying to you all the time," Jack argued as he shut the door and Jethro came to stand on the other side of Tim. "Can't you ever take things as you see 'em?"

"I see people lying to me."

Jack sighed. "You were such a happy child."

Tim decided to move this along. "Boss, I talked to Tony and Abby."

"Boss? You make them call you that?" He chuckled, "He's not a…" but stopped at the look Jethro sent him. "Are you a boss, Leroy?"

Tim looked back at Ziva who stood behind him and she cut through the silence. "Blood traces from LaCombe's ring will help us ID two of his attackers."

"As far as how they found him," Tim said as he pulled up the video, noticing Jethro leaning closer to him, "LaCombe's squad in Iraq made a video and put it on the Net."

"It was posted a month ago, and already has almost half million hits."

"It's a lot of data to sift through, but I can tell who's seen it," he said looking at Jethro and he could see that he was right. This case was already getting to him.

Jack's question drew all eyes to him. "You can do that? You can tell everything I've been looking at?"

"What have you been looking at?"

"None of your business."

At the smile that Ziva gave Jack, Tim could tell that Ziva had taken an instant liking to Jack. Something that was near impossible. Tim himself turned to Jack and figuring he had someone knew to talk about computers with, starting telling him how it works.

"See, using, uh, service-provider accounts, I can cross-reference the static IPs…"

"McGee…" Tim looked over at Jethro's interruption and really saw how tired he was. "I'm tired."

"I can conclusively say that this video has been viewed from the Winslows' home account." He felt Jethro's hand cup the back of his head and give it a rub and a small smile, a proud smile. And Tim about beamed back but pulled it back when Ziva spoke and he remembered Jack was watching them.

"Someone in that house knew Ethan LaCombe was still alive."

"Well, you see, anybody could have found that," Jack argued. "I mean, anybody could have known how to find him."

"It could have been anyone. But they lied to me about it."

Tim knew how much lying meant to Jethro, but he felt a bit miffed when he thought about the lies he told Tim. However, he pushed it aside for now and sighed when Jethro looked at Tim and Ziva. "It's late. Let's call it a night."

"You're welcomed to stay at my home."

Jethro looked as if he was contemplating it, and Tim could tell he wanted to decline, but he just sighed and nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Tim and Ziva cleaned up their stuff before locking up the store. And while the men walked there, it was just around the block, Ziva drove the car to sit in the driveway. Jethro wanted to be right there in case anyone tried to do anything with their car.

"Ziva, I have a guest room upstairs and to the right. Bathroom is right across from you if you want to take a shower." Ziva nodded with a grateful smile and headed up. "Leroy, you can have your old room, and Tim, you can take mine."

He frowned at the older man. "And where would you sleep?"

"I can take the couch."

Jethro rolled his eyes. "Jack, Tim can sleep in my room, I'll sleep on the floor, and you'll keep your room."

Tim had to look away when Jack glanced at him and gave a mental sigh of relief when Jack just shrugged with an, "Okay."

They each took turns taking a shower and Tim about collapsed on the bed after saying goodnight to Ziva and Jack. Jethro crawled in beside him and Tim easily opened his arms for Jethro, his head resting on Tim's cloth covered chest, right over his heart.

"You know I have questions right." A grunt was his answer which he chuckled at. "But, I won't ask till this is over and we're back at home."

He felt Jethro's hand smooth down his shirt, slipping the tips of his fingers under his shirt to run across his skin. Tim bit his bottom lip at the sensation, knowing he had to be quiet since it wasn't enough time for anyone in the house to fall asleep. The hand slipped even further under his shirt, running up his chest and Tim softly gasped as Jethro's finger circled his nipple before smoothing over it.

Tim slipped down and kissed Jethro, rolling over to be on top. He continued to kiss Jethro, soft and sweet. Trailing his lips down his jaw and down his neck. "Tim."

"Shh," he hushed and lifted Jethro's shirt. Jethro sat up to get it fully off and Tim gave him a peck before Jethro laid back down, his head on the pillow.

Tim set out to map his lover's chest, toying with his nipples before they were hard and a bit red. Afterwards he made his way south, coming to Jethro's tented boxers. Making quick work, he had them off and on the floor, staring at the hard cock in front of him. It stood at attention, and he watched in satisfaction as it leaked precum when he licked his lips. Deciding to not wait, he leaned forward and licked the head, softly humming at the taste of pure Jethro.

So good.

He heard Jethro grunt and connecting his green eyes to those steel blue ones, he engulfed Jethro's cock in one move.

"Fuck," he heard whispered, felt Jethro's fingers in his hair. Not guiding or forceful. Just there, connected. Tim continued to stare into Jethro's eyes as his mouth worked his cock, his tongue licking the tip and taking pleasure in seeing Jethro's reaction.

So vulnerable.

"Tim."

"I'm here."

When he could tell Jethro was close, he put two of his fingers in front of Jethro's mouth and without hesitation, Jethro pulled Tim's fingers into his mouth and he laved them up with his spit. Tim pulled them free when he knew they were ready and after only a slight pause, in which Jethro spread his legs wider, he circled Jethro's rim and slowly pushed his finger in, shortly followed by the second.

He knew when he found Jethro's prostate when Jethro whimpered, his fingers tightening in his hair. Knowing that Jethro wasn't in a state right now to go way too long without an orgasm, he thrust his fingers faster and made sure to always push on that prostate as his head bobbed up and down, up and down, up and down.

"Tim."

Releasing Jethro, he whispered, "Come Jethro," and in one move deep throat his cock. And that was all Jethro needed before he grunted as he released in Tim's mouth, his throat working to swallow it all as his fingers continued to brush his prostate.

After Tim swallowed it all and he saw and felt Jethro go limp, he released him from his mouth and removed his fingers. He crawled up Jethro's body and smiled when he saw Jethro asleep. Not even the bit upset, it was easy to feel that way when he had come when Jethro did, he pressed a kiss to Jethro's forehead before getting out of bed.

He wasn't so tired anymore, so tucking Jethro in and changing his bottoms, he slipped out of the room to the bathroom. After cleaning up a bit, he headed down to the kitchen to make some tea and sort of look around the living room.

Jack obviously had an interest in television and movies more than Jethro, but had the same interest in books. War and history. And there were a number of books on planes, planes used in previous wars. He about fell over when he saw that Jack had the Thom E. Gemcity series, no doubt subconsciously picking up the similarities because they were the only mystery books in the whole book collection.

"Does he ever talk about me—my boy?"

Tim jumped in surprise at the voice behind him and turned to see Jack standing there, watching him.

"Uh, I think I heard him refer to you once as dead." Actually, mentioned him dead many times. But he quickly rectified himself when he saw the look on Jack's face. "Actually, I think he probably said "Dad.""

"Hmm. I'm sure it was the first one, but thanks Tim." Jack motioned to the bookshelves. "You read?"

"Any chance I can get actually. Je-uh…Gibbs builds boats, I read. Ziva does martial arts and cooks. Tony, the other guy on our team, plays football and watches movies. Abby, our forensic specialist, well, she does whatever comes to mind really. Like bowling with nuns." He chuckled at the look on Jack's face and prayed that all that had refrained Jack from noticing his little slip.

Jack walked in and Tim had to control himself to not fidget. He was both calm and nervous around the man and it only made him even more nervous.

"Tim, you can relax."

Nervously chuckling, he sat on the couch with Jack and gripped his tea as if it alone was keeping him sane. Tapping the mug for a while, he finally asked, "Couldn't sleep?"

Jack shook his head. "No. Day keeps running through my mind. It's good to see Leroy again."

"Oh."

"So, Tim…" Tim looked at him. The way Jack stared at him, contemplating him, it made him even more nervous. Thankfully Jack just asked, "What do you like to read?"

* * *

Gibbs stood in the general store with Jack behind the counter. He had sent Ziva and Tim out to go searching for more DNA like Jack suggested. He didn't know why he was accommodating him when his way got things done. He was sure if Ducky was there he'd be making some psychological evaluation.

Yeah, he could go without that happening.

He was feeling a bit better after what Tim did the previous night but he knew the feeling would go away with the day they had ahead.

"I appreciate you making an effort not to tear the town apart. You give people a chance, they might surprise you."

"That's what worries me."

"Tell me about this investigator thing of yours. We haven't talked since you started it." Gibbs pointed to the product in front of him in question. "It's $1.75." Jack came around the counter. "In fact, we haven't talked since the funeral." Pausing at the mention of the funeral, he looked to Jack. "I adored that wife of yours. And I adored that child, too. Always figured it was Shannon that sent me the Christmas cards."

Figuring he should get them away from the subject that angered him every time he thought about it, he answered what Jack wanted to know. "Well, it's like what you do."

"What, selling groceries?"

"No. You like to tell a story."

"Well, I've been known to spin a yarn or two."

"Yeah, most of the mine starts with a dead body. You look into how they got that way, they come back to life."

He pointed to the next product in which Jack answered, "Two and a quarter."

Gibbs changed the stamp to the correct price before continuing. "Meet the people they knew. You see what they try to show you. You read what they try to hide."

"People come in here all the time. Tell me their life stories at the drop of a hat. What are they trying to hide?"

"Insecurity," he answered immediately. "Need assurance their life means something."

"Leroy…what did I do at the funeral?"

He snapped. "You mean, other than showing up with a date?" Who the hell did that?

Jack sighed. "I always thought that your mom and I had a love story for the ages. I never regretted giving up the skies, working underground every day in the mines. I wanted to give you that white, picket-fence dream."

"And you did."

"But you see…" he sat down along with Jack, "things did not work out between your mom and me. When she died, I know how mad that made you. I know how you hate me for getting on with my life. I saw the look in your face. How you wanted vengeance. And that look went away when you met Shannon…but it came back quick after they died. I knew what that meant. You were gonna find someone to take it out on. Didn't matter what I said."

"It never did." He looked away before asking, "What do you see now?"

"I see a man who's learned that moving on doesn't mean forgetting."

Flinching, he stared at Jack and would have asked what he meant by that but Chuck and Ed just walked in, making "suggestions."

* * *

Tim wasn't afraid to admit that he couldn't wait to get out of there. The case was over, and they could go home. He and Abby put the last of the stuff in the vehicle and shut the vehicle. Looking at each other, they shouted, "Shotgun! I call it first!"

They raced to the front seat and found Ziva there, smirking at them before she tried to give them an innocent look. "What?"

He shook his head with his own small smirk and then turned to see Jethro and Jack coming out with Tony following. "Jack, I just, uh… I mean, I-I don't want to be intrusive."

Abby ignored him and walked up to Jack, wrapping her arms around her. "It was so nice to meet you."

Tim smiled when Jack looked over Abby's shoulder at him with a smile yet a question. "She is a hugger."

When Abby pulled back, Jack grinned. "Fantastic," he chuckled before shaking Tim's hand. "Take care of my boy will you?"

Deciding to not be surprised, he sheepishly nodded while Abby beamed. Abby turned to head back to the car while Tim stood by Jethro, brushing their hands together. Seemed Jethro also wasn't surprised by Jack knowing about them. After all, when he thought about it, this was Jethro's father. How could the man not know?

"Uh, Jack, I-I just…I gotta know some things. I got a lot of questions."

"You can have two, DiNozzo."

"Where do I start?"

"That's one," Tim said with a smirk.

When Tony looked at Jethro, Jethro gave his own half smirk half smile. "You have one left."

"Well, that doesn't count, 'cause that…" At Jethro's stare, he conceded. "Okay…the rules. Did he learn them from you? I mean, did you teach him all the rules?"

"I'm sorry, son. I didn't teach him much of anything."

"He taught me to drive."

"Oh, no, Boss, not the backseat, middle hump. I-I got that…that thing we talked about."

Jack glanced at Tim before shrugging and held out the keys to the 426 hemi that he had seen Jethro drive earlier. The car that had gotten Tim a bit hard when he saw Jethro behind the wheel. "Take them. It's just cluttering up the garage."

Jethro stared at the keys before taking them.

"You're a great man, Jackson Gibbs." Tony shook Jack's hand. "Thanks for the sweater." And with that, he took the keys from Jethro to the charger and head to the car with Ziva and Abby.

"I'm gonna go. It was great meeting you Jack."

"You as well Tim. I enjoyed our talk last night."

With a smile, Tim turned but stopped when he found hemi keys in front of his face. "You're riding with me."

"Yes…Jethro."

He took the keys with anticipation and made his way to the garage, slipping in the passenger seat and sighing as he ran his hands over the leather. Oh yeah, this car was a beauty.

"You enjoying yourself?"

Tim smiled as Jethro slipped in behind the wheel and quickly leaned over to kiss him. "Ready to go home Jethro?"

"Yeah."

"By the way," he said as they pulled out of the garage and up to the light, "where did you get the rules?"

Jethro looked in the rearview mirror and did so for so long that Tim turned to look back at the train station platform and instantly knew. He knew of how Jethro and Shannon had finally started talking that day. Tim looked back to Jethro and saw him softly smiling.

"Shannon."

"Smart woman."

"Yeah."

Leaning over with a smile, he gave Jethro a kiss. "Now let's go home. And don't think I haven't forgotten about you telling me that Jack was dead."

**The End.**

* * *

**A/N: PLEASE REVIEW! They're appreciated.**

**Next in McGee's Keeper series...**

**(#12) Caged - **"Did they do anything McGee? I will kick their ass." Ziva isn't the only one not happy about Tim being in a woman's prison during a lock down.


End file.
